Pact with MILF splits Nur, followers

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the signing of a peace framework by the government and the MILF is an emotional moment for Ismael Kasan, 26, a member of the MILF since he was 8 years old. AQUILES Z. ZONIO/INQUIRER MINDANAO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The Moro leader who once presided over some of the bloodiest battles of a separatist movement in Mindanao is now finding himself separated from his followers over whether or not to support a revitalized effort to bring a peaceful end to the Moro rebellion.

Nur Misuari, who headed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) at the height of the bloodiest episode of the Moro rebellion, has been rebuffed by his followers after he warned of a bigger war over the signing of a peace pact framework by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

A group calling itself the National Security Command (Nascom), which belongs to Misuari’s MNLF faction, declared full support to the agreement between the government and the MILF.

Misuari called the agreement “illegal and a recipe for war.”

Abdulmanan Manalasal, brigade commander of a MNLF unit called Nascom 12, said his group’s only wish was for the government not to forget that it, too, has an agreement with the MNLF that was signed in 1996 under then President Fidel Ramos.

Manalasal, 46, said he wanted to remind the government that there are still provisions of the 1996 peace pact that remain unenforced until today.

These include wealth-sharing and the creation of a regional security force for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was set up as an offshoot of the 1996 pact.

Manalasal said like many MNLF men supportive of the peace deal with the MILF, he and his men also long for lasting peace in Mindanao.

“My dream is to see just and long-lasting peace for Mindanao so we can go back to our land forcibly taken from us by the Ilaga paramilitary group during the time of Marcos,” he said. Ilaga is the Army-backed militia that became notorious for abuses against Moro communities.

“I just hope that the Philippine government will be sincere this time,” Manalasal said.

Abu Missry Mama, spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, said the group’s leader, Ameril Umra Kato, is keeping a wait-and-see attitude on the framework agreement.

“We are not opposing the peace deal but we will never be a part of it. We will continue our struggle for Bangsamoro self-rule,” Mama said.

Other Mindanaoans who are not Muslims expressed hope for the success of the agreement.

Bong Luterio, assistant principal at a private school in Cagayan de Oro City, said sincerity is key to the pact’s success.

South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy said while he supports the peace deal, “it would have been better if we were given a copy so we can study its provisions.” Aquiles Zonio, Cai Panlilio and Charlie Señase, Inquirer Mindanao